Biological warfare to wipe out Australia’s wild cats

Share via

Feral cats kill and eat an estimated 75 million animals every night in AustraliaSydney News

Bernard LaganSydney

Last updated at 12:01AM, June 3 2014

The Australian government wants to develop a biological agent capable of mass
cat destruction after a study showed that native wildlife had been badly
damaged by 20 million wild cats, which kill and eat 75 million mammals,
birds and reptiles every night.

Greg Hunt, the environment minister, said that using biological warfare on the
country’s wild cats was part of a three-pronged attack on the burgeoning
feral feline population, blamed for wiping out more native species than have
been lost by any other nation.

The 1,000-page report — prepared over three years by a panel of leading
scientists — tracks the conservation